What began as a nice dinner to celebrate our one year anniversary became much more.

Stefan and I decided to get dressed up and go out to eat at the same restaurant where we had our very first "date-but-not-a-date" over a year ago. When Stefan came to pick me up, I was running late which was, of course, completely out of character. I found out later that as I got ready, it gave Stefan the perfect opportunity to ask my dad for my hand in marriage. We went to the Thai restaurant where we talked about our year together, and I decided to ask him what moments were his favorite and least favorite in our relationship so far. That conversation became very funny later as Stefan had to sit there and think about all of our worst moments as a couple before he was going to propose. Hey, he still did so that says something, right?! I ate an ungodly amount of drunken noodles, then Stefan said he had one more place to take me and that he had a gift for me. This was not a crazy thing to say as it was out anniversary so I figured he had just gotten me something nice.

We tried to get into a church we both loved only to find it locked, and we ended up alone in the atrium of a very nice church that neither of us knows the name of. We sat on a bench and Stefan handed me an envelope of letters. As I started to read them and looked at the dates, I realized that he had started writing these letters 10 months ago and there was one a month. I thought these were just incredibly sweet and romantic letters until I got to the last one that had been written that day, and Stefan explained all the reasons he wanted me to marry him and be his wife. As I finished the letter, Stefan stood me up and got down on one knee and proposed. I have never been more surprised or filled with joy as I said yes.

I have always had a "rule" that I wanted to date someone at least a year before getting engaged (so arbitrary, I know), so as I was processing everything Stefan acknowledged my rule and said that he technically proposed a day before our anniversary but said that "…it had been 365 days because this is a leap year and I couldn't wait one more day". I responded by saying I might barf because of all those dang drunken noodles and the sudden rush of adrenaline; so overall it was romantic.

As we jumped into wedding planning, we are just trying to enjoy every minute of our engagement. We look forward to having all of you stand by our side as we say our vows and celebrate with us on our special day!

S&S

Wedding Day

4:00 PM

Wedding

Reception